Sean Kingston and his mother arrested for $1 million fraud
Key Points(5)
- Jamaican-American Rapper and singer Sean Kingston, along with his mother Janice Turner, allegedly committed over a million dollars in fraud in recent months, leading to their arrest this week.
- The accusations, detailed in documents released on Friday, claim they stole money, jewelry, a Cadillac Escalade, and furniture.
- According to arrest warrants from the Broward County Sheriff's Office, 34-year-old Kingston and his 61-year-old mother face charges including conducting an organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, identity theft, and related crimes.
- The duo was apprehended on Thursday after a SWAT team raided Kingston's rented mansion in suburban Fort Lauderdale.
- While Turner was arrested during the raid, Kingston was taken into custody at Fort Irwin, an Army training base in California's Mojave Desert, where he was performing.
Jamaican-American Rapper and singer Sean Kingston, along with his mother Janice Turner, allegedly committed over a million dollars in fraud in recent months, leading to their arrest this week.
The accusations, detailed in documents released on Friday, claim they stole money, jewelry, a Cadillac Escalade, and furniture.
According to arrest warrants from the Broward County Sheriff's Office, 34-year-old Kingston and his 61-year-old mother face charges including conducting an organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, identity theft, and related crimes.
The duo was apprehended on Thursday after a SWAT team raided Kingston's rented mansion in suburban Fort Lauderdale. While Turner was arrested during the raid, Kingston was taken into custody at Fort Irwin, an Army training base in California's Mojave Desert, where he was performing.
Kingston, who soared to fame with his 2007 hit “Beautiful Girls” and collaborated with Justin Bieber on “Eenie Meenie," is currently held in a California jail awaiting transfer to Florida.
Robert Rosenblatt, the attorney for the Jamaican-American performer and his mother, said on Friday that Kingston would return voluntarily if allowed, “which would save the state the expense of extradition and the costs of travel for the detectives and Sean.”
His mother was being held Friday at the Broward County jail on a $160,000 bond.
“We look forward to addressing these (charges) in court and are confident of a successful resolution for Shawn and his mother,” Rosenblatt said.
Alleged theft from October to March
Although the warrants do not detail specific allegations, they indicate that from October to March, Kingston and Turner allegedly stole nearly $500,000 in jewelry, over $200,000 from Bank of America, $160,000 from an Escalade dealer, more than $100,000 from First Republic Bank, $86,000 from a custom bed manufacturer, among other smaller amounts.
Kingston, whose legal name is Kisean Anderson, was already on probation for trafficking stolen property. His mother, Turner, has a prior conviction for bank fraud, having served nearly 1.5 years in prison for a 2006 offense involving over $160,000.
The pair has faced legal troubles before. In 2015, a seller of customized watches won a lawsuit against Kingston and Turner in a New York City federal court for $356,000 after they failed to pay. In 2018, a New York jeweler successfully sued them for $301,000 over nine unpaid items.
Most recently, a Florida entertainment systems company sued Kingston in February, alleging he failed to pay $120,000 of a $150,000 bill for a massive 232-inch TV installed in his home. The lawsuit claims Kingston promised the company that both he and Bieber would make commercials for them, which never materialized. According to the company’s attorney, Bieber had no involvement and Kingston falsely used his name.
Read: BSO raids Sean Kingston’s Florida house; singer’s mother arrested
